Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Rebel Galaxy is Live

Rebel Galaxy on Steam

Here are a few notes to help get you started today.

1. Information is everywhere.
I mean everywhere. If you're on a screen, everything you can do from that screen is shown.

Also, when you're in space, two buttons (using the Xbox One controller) are particularly important for getting information. If you hit the "Y" button, you'll see a radial menu where you can see the star map, set waypoints, "pulse" to see what you can do within range, etc. If you hit the menu button, you'll see a menu across the top that you can scroll through to give you all kinds of information about your ship and current missions.

I hadn't thought about it this way before, but typing that last paragraph made me realize something. The "Y" button gives you external information about space, while the menu button gives you internal information about your ship and your missions.

Like I said, it's an extraordinarily well designed game. That's very clever.

2. Consider hiring a mercenary. 
Very, very early in the game, 15,000 credits is a huge sum. If you're doing merchant missions and accumulating some spare credits, though, a mercenary is a great addition. They're quite skilled, and the impact they have on missions is substantial. Plus, as far as I can tell, they hang around until you dismiss them or they get blown up. I've had one presently for multiple missions and she's still going strong.

3. There's nothing wrong with running away. 
Absolutely nothing wrong at all, and it will save your ass in the early game. If you engage enemies and feel overwhelmed, then get out of there. Your starting ship is faster than your enemies, so turning tail is a legitimate and effective option.

4. Don't forget the humble mining laser. 
The mining laser is a surprisingly effective weapon, and you don't have to control it (if you don't want to), so you can fly in, get close, and bam.

5. The combination of lasers and broadside attacks is devastating.
Lasers are fantastic, but some of them don't penetrate shields that effectively (depending on the shield). It's a little tricky to manage at first, but getting behind a ship and turning broadside to attack (with your lasers still working on their own) is incredibly powerful, because the broadsides attack is terrific for penetrating shields. So you're attacking with two autonomous lasers, for example, while manually firing a third attack. This can take almost any ship down with surprising speed.

This approach can also subject you to more damage, so manage that carefully.

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